It achieved little from a military perspective, but its symbolic value was inestimable. This documentary tells the story of an extraordinary World War II bombing mission.
On April 18, 1942, a group of 80 flyers in 16 B-25 bombers took off from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific to launch a raid on Tokyo. After a series of military reverses following the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor the previous December, the purpose of the mission was to demonstrate that America was not to be defeated. The aviators, led by commander Lt Col James Harold Doolittle, took the fight directly to the enemy for the first time. The crews, all of whom volunteered for what they realised would be a perilous mission, knew that a return to the US was impossible, since the aircraft could not carry sufficient fuel – indeed, the plan was to continue westward and land in China. In the event, 15 of the planes reached their intended destination, but all crashed on landing. However, all but three of the crew survived. On November 9, 2013, the last surviving members of the group met to drink a final toast to their late comrades. Dick Cole, at 98 the oldest of the group, opened a bottle of 1896 brandy that had been kept for the occasion. The film includes the pilots' personal stories of that day and the immediate aftermath of their heroic flight.